THE PLANTS OF THE KALAHARI 63 



the depth beneath the surface at which it is found, it is ge- 

 nerally deliciously cool and refreshing. Another kind, named 

 kuri, is seen in other parts of the country, where long-con- 

 liiiued heat parches the soil. This plant is an herbaceous 

 creeper, and deposits under ground a number of tubers, some 

 as large as a man's head, often in a circle, a yard or more 

 horizontally from the stem. The natives strike the ground on 

 the circumference of the circle with stones, till, by hearing a 

 difference of sound, they know the water-bearing tuber to be 

 beneath. They then dig down a foot or so and find it. 



But the most wonderful plant of the desert is the Kengwe, or 



KTme (Gucumis Caffer), the water-melon of the Caffres. In 



years when more than the usual quantity of rain falls, vast 



bracts of the country are literally covered with these juicy 



gourds, and then animals of every sort and name, including 



man, rejoice in the rich supply. Crossing the desert from 



Kolobeng to Lake Ngami, Mr. J. Macabe found them in such 



• rofusion that his cattle lived on the fluid contained in them 



•r not less than twenty-one days; and when at last they 



cached a supply of water, they did not seem to care much 



ibout it. 



On the west coast, along the banks of the Kiusep, — a river 

 vliich, luhen it has ivater, flows into Walfish Bay, — Anderson 

 )und almost every little sand-hillock covered with a creeper, 

 vhich produced a kind of prickly gourd of the most delicious 

 (lavour. The naras, as it is called by the natives, is about 

 (he size of an ordinary turnip, and when ripe has a greenish 

 exterior, with a tinge of lemon ; while the interior, which is of 

 I deep orange colour, presents a most cooling and inviting 

 ippearance, and for three or four months in the year con- 

 litutes the chief food both of man and beast. 



The naras contains a great number of seeds, not unlike a 

 )eeled almond in appearance and taste, which, being easily 

 eparated from the fleshy parts, are carefully collected, dried 

 n the sun, and then stored away in little skin bags. When 

 lie fruit fails the natives have recourse to these seeds, which 

 .re equally nutritious, and perhaps even more wholesome. 



Thus even in the desert the bounty of the Almighty raises 

 iistenance for man and all His creatures; for, in this barren 

 ind poverty-stricken country, food is so scarce, that without 



